On The Voice: Make it Purple Rain
I was underwhelmed and confused with The Voice tonight. On one hand, singers who normally don’t impress were so much better but the singers that are usually the showstoppers were just alright. Am I bored with their perfection? Did they give sob stories to some and not to others to tug at the heartstrings of America? I am perplexed by so many things. Also…#vacationbrain!
Before I get going, there was a nice moment at the beginning of the show where Carson asked each of the judges to reflect on Prince and what he meant to them. The studio was draped in purple lights and the giant screens were playing actual purple rain falling. It was visually cool and much better and more honorable than the coaches getting up trying to cover Prince tunes. Well done.
I’m going to do this quickly tonight because I need to get this out of my head. Here are my power rankings for this week only:
- Paxton Ingram (Break Every Chain) – It took two coaches to pull this amazing performance together but it was worth it. Paxton turned on his gospel vibe tonight and, with help from both Pharrell and Blake, this was easily his best and the best of the night.
- Alisan Porter (Stay With Me Baby)– She was good tonight, but she is always good. I might be getting bored with her being so good. Maybe I just need to see a different side of her. She is great at belting out songs but I need some variety. I’m not going to buy an entire album of her performances so far. Still, spectacular tonight.
- Adam Wakefield (Lights) – I don’t think this guy can sing bad but I wasn’t a huge fan of this song choice for him. I may be alone in this thought but it just didn’t have the Adam stamp on it that I like. Too much 80’s not enough cool. Still not pitchy and I didn’t make a face once during his entire performance.
- Laith Al-Saadi (Make it Rain) – Even though Adam picked one of the most overdone reality show songs ever for Laith, I appreciate what he did with it. Cliche song choice but done with a cool vibe and Laith’s Blues stamp on it.
- Hannah Huston (I Can’t Make You Love Me) – I heard some weird enunciations in Hannah’s performance tonight that distracted me totally from how awesome she is. I’m still pulling for top 4 but tonight’s performance stripped her voice down so much it may have exposed some flaws.
- Bryan Bautista (Just the Way You Are) – Bryan was back to sounding pretty good this week. He hit a few rough notes but nothing as painful as his performance last week. This guy is smooth and looks good on camera. I think he is one of the most radio-ready. Not sure America agrees with that but we’ll see.
- Mary Sarah (Johnny and June) – This girl is confusing to me. I thought her performance tonight was sort of rough. The song wasn’t vintage enough to showcase that side of her and relied too heavily on the current country sound. I thought she was struggling but the iTunes charts have her near the top of the pack. The song sounds so much better on iTunes. Don’t understand this one but I think she’ll be safe.
- Owen Danoff (Fire and Rain) – This seemed like a perfect song choice for Owen but I was annoyed that they played the sad backstory card here. His performance wasn’t very even and didn’t live up to what I wanted from the song. I like this guy but my guess is he will be in trouble again. I’m still putting him at number 8 because even when not stellar, he’s better than others.
- Shalyah Fearing (The Climb) – The darling of last week got moved to the opening spot and stumbled. The Climb is a big song and she did do it justice but there were just so many screeching moments where I made a wrinkled up stank face. (My dad doesn’t know what that is so I need to be clear. It isn’t a good face.) If there is a moment where I make that face, it wasn’t good.
- Daniel Passino (Time After Time) – It might not be fair to put him down this far because he actually was pretty spot on vocally tonight. I just don’t like his stage mannerisms and find his pop star thing more of an act than a true representation of him as an artist. He’s acting like he thinks we want him to act like a pop star.
- Nick Hagelin (Your Body is a Wonderland) – I’m not sure how he is still here after last week and tonight they gave him an extra boost of sad-story, vote-boosting kid stuff. Vocally, this guy is the weakest link and that’s just being honest. Which makes me feel mean. I think Owen will go home before Nick which makes no kind of sense to me but I’m trying to hold it together.
Random questions I have are as follows: 1) What is with Pharrell’s hats? 2) Are the judges actually listening to the performances? Why are they never honest? 3) Did anyone mention to Christina that this is an 8:00 network show and she might want to wear a whole shirt next time? 4) Adam telling everyone to shut-up is getting annoying. (not a question)
I’ll apologize for my rude behavior last week. I blamed America for a terrible outcome and I didn’t even vote. I voted like a fool this week so if America messes this up again, I’m 100% justified in my ranting.